Mr. Speaker, I rise now at the end of the day to point out that, in my question of February 28, I spoke of the gross injustice in the budget which the Minister of Finance brought down this Monday.
To clearly define this injustice, I would like to repeat part of the question I put to the Hon. Minister of Finance this week. My question was for the finance minister and was more or less as follows: Yesterday, the finance minister announced that grain transportation subsidies would be eliminated, adding that a generous compensation of close to $3 billion, which includes direct subsidies, would be given to western producers.
I have done some research since then and have in fact found that grain producers in the west, and only in the west, would be offered between $15 and $18 per acre, or an average of some $15,000 to $18,000 per grain producer.
Of course, the Crow rate was intended for grain transportation from point A to point B, with point B located near the ocean, most often in Vancouver. Looking again at WGTA issue, we found that many producers stockpiled their grain in railway hopper cars. The railway cars went to Thunder Bay to be eligible for the subsidy before returning to Vancouver. This was costly to the government.
I would like to talk about the unjust and unfair way that farmers in the east of the country have been treated. On the one hand, the government cuts $560 million in subsidies to farmers in the west and, to clear its conscience, offers them a compensation package of close to $3 billion to help them diversify their crops; on the other hand, in the same budget, it trims industrial milk subsidies by 30 per cent.
I did my math and realized that a 30 per cent cut will result in losses. As we all well know, Quebec and Ontario produce 80 per cent of Canada's industrial milk and the cut will result in losses of anywhere from three to five thousand dollars. What compensation will farmers in the east get from the Liberal government? None.
This inequity in the budget is noteworthy, and I expect an explanation now and not a canned response.